Construction of the Capitol, the building that houses the U.S. Congress, began in 1793 and was largely completed by 1865, when the Capitol’s second dome was finished. The principal architects were William Thornton (1759-1828), B. Henry Latrobe (1764-1820), Charles Bulfinch (1763-1844), and Thomas Ustick Walter (1804-87). This elevation by Alexander Jackson Davis (1803-92), rendered in ink, watercolor, and wash, shows the east front of the Capitol as it appeared in 1834. After studying at the American Academy of Fine Arts in New York, Davis began his career as ...

The Storthings Byningen is the hall of the Norwegian parliament, which was completed in 1866. This photomechanical print from the Detroit Publishing Company shows how it appeared in the last decade of the 19th century. Oslo, the present-day capital of Norway, was called Christiania from 1624 to 1878 (Kristiania from 1878 to 1924). It was named after King Christian IV of Denmark, which was part of a Nordic union with Norway for more than 400 years.